Israel’s Ambassador to Kenya Oded Joseph has dismissed reports from the Palestinian Embassy in Nairobi that Kenya is defending their cause in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza.

Speaking to The Standard on Sunday, May 16, Joseph said Kenya, which is a member of the United Nations Security Council, had taken a neutral stance of de-escalation which it also supported to avoid the situation in Gaza.

While responding to a statement issued by the Palestinian Embassy in Nairobi, the diplomat said Nairobi’s main stance on combating terrorism was supreme and could not be distorted to mean the opposite.

“Kenya’s de-escalation stance does not support any side as the Palestinian embassy claims, what matters is Nairobi’s stance on the war on terror,” he told Standard.

He said Israel supported de-escalation, but could not sit back and watch Hamas militants attack their citizens.

Joseph said the operation will continue as long as necessary, but will be punctual in their bombardment to minimize civilian casualties.

“Until we can strike their interests, structures and facilities built by Hamas in Gaza and stop the missile attacks, operations will continue,” he said.

“We want to stop these attacks, but it becomes difficult when terrorist groups still fire missiles at Israel.”

One-off operations

Joseph played down the attacks on media structures, saying they had information that the building was being used by Hamas officials.

Israeli forces acted on the basis of accurate information that the building housed Hamas military intelligence and military assets belonging to both Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

He said the situation was risky as militants deliberately set up bases in buildings housing media and civilians as a tactic to launch attacks and use people as a human shield in attacks.

There have been condemnations after Israeli missiles struck a 12-story Gaza tower on Saturday housing the offices of the U.S. Associated Press and Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV station.

He said the fact that no one was hurt when the building was hit is a sign that their intelligence is sophisticated.

“No journalist or resident was injured. We have the technology to make sure the attacks are punctual and surgical to avoid losses, ”he said.

Joseph accused Hamas of deliberately and systematically placing military targets among the civilian population, exposing its citizens to danger.

“They have established bases in mosques, hospitals and populated towns to use their citizens as a human shield, then blame it on Israeli forces,” he added.

The diplomat said that in order to avoid civilian casualties, Israeli forces are spending a lot of time and resources preparing for the attack in order to give advance warnings such as roosting, street strikes, land clearing operations. targets before attacks.

Conflict started

Joseph accused Hamas of stepping up the seven-day fighting that began on May 10 after it began attacking Jews in their places of worship.

He said the Israeli police only arrived after some Muslims fell under Hamas propaganda and started attacking Jewish prayers in the Western Wall using stockpiles of stones and rocks.

“The Israeli forces did not stop Muslims from praying during the holy month of Ramadhan, it was Hamas that started attacking the Jews and the police had to enter,”

The ambassador accused anti-Israel forces of using Sheikh Jarrah’s deportations to seek sympathy and spread propaganda against Israel, adding that disputes over the deportations are being dealt with by the courts.

The diplomat urged the international community and other nations, including Kenya, to support Israel in the fight against Hamas, a terrorist group, which he accused of committing atrocities in both Israel and Gaza. .

He said Hamas militants had fired 2,900 rockets since the start of the Hamas aggression, killing 10 Israelis killed and 200 wounded, including 450 falling in Gaza, wounding and killing Palestinians.

Joseph accused the International Criminal Court (ICC) of being used as a political tool to assign blame to Israel instead of dealing with humanitarian crime.

In a statement on Saturday, May 15, the Palestinian consular in Nairobi praised the government of Kenya for taking a firm stand on the attacks.

“Kenya’s position is in harmony with international law and the positions declared by the overwhelming majority of states and independent international organizations, all of which have called on Israel to stop deporting Palestinian residents and confiscating their property for the benefit of Israeli settlers as well as repeatedly harassing and assaulting Muslim and Christian worshipers in Jerusalem, ”the statement seen by The Standard reads.

The Embassy expressed disappointment at the ongoing violations despite the condemnation of independent human rights organizations and relevant United Nations bodies.

United Nations Security Council meeting

Kenya last week urged all authorities, especially law enforcement, to defuse the situation in Jerusalem before it leads to a wider wave of violence.

International pressure to end the raging conflict between Israel and Hamas militants mounted on Sunday, even as local health officials said an Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed more than two dozen people, the deadliest attack in the current hostilities.

Over the past week, all 15 members of the United Nations Security Council have met privately at least twice to discuss ways to reduce tensions.

There was, however, no agreement on a statement or other meeting that was to take place later in the day via videoconference due to the pandemic restrictions.

More than 170 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and bombardments in Gaza, and 12 Israelis have died in rocket attacks by Hamas.